By Chido Onumah
On Wednesday, November 26, family, friends, associates and comrades will gather at the headquarters of Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI)—an organisation Bene Madunagu co-founded in 1993—in Calabar, Cross River State, to pay tribute and remember the life and times of one of the leading lights of the radical feminist and socialist movement in Nigeria: Comrade Professor Benedicta “Bene” Madunagu, nee Afangide.
Comrade Bene or Mumsy B, as her mentees and admirers called her, was a trailblazer in many ways, a towering figure whose courage, ideological depth, passion for gender rights and humanism shaped generations of activists, scholars, women’s rights defenders, and community organizers. She had a life-long commitment to challenging the deep-seated structures of patriarchy, inequality, and injustice.
The remembrance symposium will bring together mentees, students, gender rights activists and leading voices in the progressive and socialist movement to reflect on her legacy and the impact of her ideas. The occasion will also provide an opportunity to launch an endowment fund to support two key initiatives that she championed: The Gender Development Institute (GDI), and a Livelihood Skills Training Hub, designed to “sustain and expand her lifelong commitment to gender justice, transformative education, community development, and the empowerment of women and girls.”
The Socialist Library and Archives (SOLAR), an institution of the Nigerian Left aimed at archiving revolutionary and progressive literature and documenting the struggles of the Nigerian Left, one of the many initiatives that Comrade Bene was instrumental in creating will be fully represented at her memorial.
For SOLAR, in the words of its representative, Comrade Ikenna Edwin Madunagu, Comrade Bene’s first year memorial is more than a mere commemoration. It is a rededication—a collective and unyielding commitment to remember, celebrate, and propel forward the monumental legacy of our dear Comrade Professor Bene Madunagu. SOLAR will pay tribute to her in the following words:
In the grand tapestry of the Nigerian Left, Bene and her comrade and husband, Edwin Madunagu, were not just weavers; they were the dyers of the thread, the designers of the pattern. In 2021, when they transferred their vast, meticulously curated collection of literature and archives, they did something that transcends a simple act of charity. They didn’t just donate books; they endowed a future. They forged SOLAR into a living testament to lives wholly dedicated to the indivisibility of intellectual rigor and revolutionary action. This archive is a beacon—a physical manifestation of the vital, pulsating idea that theory and practice are one. It is a sanctuary for all who seek knowledge, not for its own sake, but as a weapon to change the world.
Today, as we gather under the banner of her memory, we stand at a critical juncture in our struggle. We remember not just a scholar, but a force of nature—a woman who was a self-described “absolutely confirmed feminist, with no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts'”. In a world constantly seeking compromise and dilution, her clarity was constant.
Comrade Bene’s life was a testament to the core tenets of our shared socialist vision. She stood for:
- The revolutionary transformation of society on the platform of workers’ power and socialism—a society where the means of production serve the many, not the few.
- Gender justice and the dismantling of every conceivable patriarchal structure that confines and dehumanizes.
- The fierce empowerment of women and girls to boldly claim their sexual and reproductive health rights—rights that are foundational to bodily autonomy and liberation.
- Unwavering academic freedom—the right to seek and speak the truth without fear—and the tireless defense of workers’ rights, the very bedrock of our movement.
Her achievements were not abstract. They are concrete, impactful, and life-changing. She was a distinguished professor of botany, grounding her science in the material world. She was a pioneering co-founder of Women in Nigeria (WIN), a movement that redefined women’s activism in our nation. She was the driving force behind the life-changing Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI), an organization that has nurtured generations of young female leaders.
Through these initiatives and her pivotal leadership role in global networks like DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era), she didn’t just impact Nigeria; she impacted the world. She was our mentor, our leader, and a fierce, unwavering advocate for the marginalized, the silenced, and the oppressed.
Now, we come to a new chapter—a moment of collective responsibility. We are launching an Endowment Fund in support of her ideas. Let us be clear: this fund is not an end in itself. It is not about building monuments of stone; it is about sustaining movements of flesh and blood. It is the necessary means to ensure the continuity of the institutions she built and the struggles she so brilliantly led.
The charge for continuity is clear, and it is a revolutionary mandate:
- Support the GPI: We must ensure that adolescent girls continue to find a safe, empowering space to learn their rights, assert their agency, and become the next wave of feminist and socialist leaders. You can find more information about their transformative work on the Girls’ Power Initiative website.
- Bolster SOLAR: The Socialist Library and Archives must remain a vibrant, accessible hub for research, activism, and organizing. We are the custodians of our history, and we must ensure our struggles are preserved for future generations of comrades.
- Embody Her Principles: The most important continuity of all is not a donation, but a daily commitment in our own lives—to remain steadfast, unyielding, and utterly uncompromising in the fight for a just, equitable, and socialist Nigeria, a nation wholly free from all forms of oppression and exploitation.
Let this memorial and endowment fund be a testament to our collective resolve, our refusal to let the flame flicker, much less extinguish. The Mother of the Nigerian Left has passed the torch. Let us ensure the flames of her revolutionary spirit continue to burn brightly, illuminating the path forward for us all.
On November 26, 2024, the world lost one of its greatest champions for social justice. One year later, as we remember her, we are comforted by her admonition: “We must never stop fighting for the future we deserve.”
Chido Onumah, PhD, is the Coordinator of the Socialist Library and Archives (SOLAR).
